Less Like You
by MissJinny
Summary: Goku comes home to a screaming ChiChi and rethinks what to do with their relationship. Songfic: Linkin Park -- Numb. One Shot. R


disclaimer: Don't own it/them or the song. Though the song is great and the characters are bad ass, I just don't have enough revenue to make them mine.  
Song: Linkin Park -- Numb  
Summary: Goku keeps taking ChiChi's slamming and is growing more and more sick of it and decided that it's time that they had a "break" from each other.   
ChiChi screamed, birds in the trees around the Son house took flight in shock, squaking their irritation. Goku stood in the kitchen, head hung low as he listened to his wife berate him...again. He'd come home late from sparring, tattered clothing laying a trail behind him from the door, shoes leaving scuffs of mud across the carpeting; now he was listening to the normal screeches of anger from his wife.  
  
Silently, Goku thanked Kami that the children had grown and had moved out on their own. They had heard the screams and yells in the night their entire lives. More than a dozen times Goku heard one of his sons crying in the night and craddled their small heads in his lap and whispered reassuring words, rocking them until they fell asleep with tear stained cheeks. He hadn't been the father ChiChi had wanted, but he had been the best father he had known how to be.  
  
~~I'm tired of being what you want me to be, feeling so faithless, lost under the surface. Don't know what your expecting of me, put under the pressure of walking in your shoes. Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow. Every step I take is another mistake to you.~~  
  
"Dammit Goku, aren't you even listening to me? How can you just come in and out of this house like it's no big deal? I waited for you for dinner for three hours! Three! I was worried sick thinking you had been killed! And now you're telling me that you were out sparring with Vegeta? I told you to stay away from that man!" ChiChi huffed, eyes on fire and spitting venom.  
  
Goku looked up, "ChiChi I--"   
  
"Don't you ChiChi me! I expect more from you Goku! Now that our sons are gone I thought we would have time to be husband and wife again. I guess that was too much to hope for!"   
  
Goku ran a hand through his hair, "But ChiChi--"  
  
"I'm just glad our two sons are fine. Growing up without any proper influence, fighting every day, neglecting their studies! I'm just thankful that I could straighten them out and set them on the right path, not that you helped any! I swear Goku, if you were any worse of a father those boys would still be here, needing to be set straight!"  
  
Goku's eyes flared, "Now wait just a damned minute! You can't tell me that I was a bad father!"  
  
ChiChi laughed, "Like you were a good one? You didn't even know we had Goten until you came back for the damned tournament! You wouldn't come back for me, but at the prospect of fighting you made sure you were here! Goten grew up for seven years not knowing who you were! You were just a picture on the wall!"  
  
"Don't even start ChiChi! You can't keep throwing that into my face! How was I supposed to know about Goten? I didn't even know you were pregnant!" Goku glowered.  
  
~~I've become so numb I can't feel you there, I've become so tired so much more aware. I've becoming this all I want to do, is be more like me and be less like you.~~  
  
ChiChi crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at her husband.  
  
"I did the best I could with the boys. I taught them what I knew."  
  
ChiChi snorted, "And what's that? Fighting? That isn't going to get them anywhere Goku. It certainly hasn't gotten you a job!"  
  
"Hey! I wasn't the one who taught Goten to fight! It was you! Don't keep blaming stupid shit like that on me! You've never accepted me for who I am ChiChi, and it isn't some trophy husband that holds a 9 to 5." Goku slammed his fist down onto the table top, the legs giving a deep moan under the pressure.  
  
"Trophy husband! Ha! Don't make me laugh!"  
  
"You knew who I was when you married me ChiChi, if you have such a problem with me, why did you even bother?" Goku growled. They'd yelled this same scene over and over, now the monotony was starting to eat away at him. He couldn't take much more of being treated like a child, he had gotten along just fine the years away in other world at least there he had gotten respect for being who he was.  
  
"Now you listen to me, Goku--"  
  
"No! You listen to me..."  
  
~~Can't you see that you're smothering me? Holding too tightly, afraid to lose control. Cause everything that you thought I would be has fallen apart right in front of you. Every step that I take is another mistake to you. And every second I waste is more than I can take.~~  
  
"I'm not some normal human that bends with the wind, follows the laws of physics. Don't look at me like that, I'm not as stupid as you think. Just because I haven't read a library of books as a child doesn't mean that I'm stupid! I have fought continually for this family, for this planet and gotten myself killed over and over. And I never ONCE demanded any sort of retribution for it. I expected a little respect, maybe even some dignity, but you won't even give me that!" Goku's chest heaved as he began to get more angry.  
  
"Oh please, Goku. Like everybody doesn't turn to you with their troubles, you're the great hero that saves the day. But you can't even come home and be a normal husband!"  
  
"Now who's not listening ChiChi?! I_am_not_normal!"  
  
ChiChi snorted, "Tell me something I don't know!"  
  
Goku growled low in his throat, "If you're so displeased, why do you put up with me then?"  
  
"What other woman would want you, Goku? I'm doing you a favor by putting up with your brutish habits and staying a calm and loving wife!"   
  
Goku sneered, "Calm and loving? Who said that I need a woman to keep me happy? I have two strong and beautiful sons, what would I want with a woman now?"  
  
ChiChi's mouth fell open as she scowled, "Are you saying you only stayed because I gave birth to your children?"  
  
Goku laughed quietly and nodded slowly. "Kami knows I wouldn't have been able to put up with you otherwise."  
  
~~I've become so numb I can't feel you there, I've become so tired so much more aware. I've becoming this all I want to do is be more like me and be less like you.~~  
  
"What are you trying to say, Goku? That you'd be perfectly fine if I weren't here to fix your meals and clean your clothes?" ChiChi gave a dry laugh.  
  
"That's exactly what I'm saying." Goku walked past her and started up the stairs.  
  
"Goku? What are you doing?" ChiChi ran after him, looking over his shoulder as he began to throw several things into an open bag on their bed.  
  
"I'm leaving ChiChi, I can't take this anymore. Every day I come home and we fight for hours until you decide whether or not I'm a good enough husband. Every day for twenty-six years."  
  
ChiChi's eyes welled and she blinked up at her husband. "You-your leaving? You can't leave, Goku!" She clung to him, being drug around the room as he gathered more of his things.  
  
"ChiChi, I just can't take this. We've had two sons, and some of the times were pleasant and I'll always remember them fondly, but this is too much." Goku carefully unclasped ChiChi's hands and stepped from her embrace.  
  
~~I've become so numb I can't feel you there, I've become so tired so much more aware. I've becoming this all I want to do is be more like me and be less like you.~~  
  
Goku quickly went down the stairs before ChiChi began to ball, he knew he'd wind up giving in and staying if he did. But he couldn't, he couldn't change for her, and she wouldn't accept him for who he was. It was better this way.  
  
He stepped out of the door and heard ChiChi calling for him from the kitchen, bound to chase after him. She leapt from the stoop and caught her arms around his neck, crying stiffly into his shoulder. "Please, Goku...you can't leave me! *sob* I promise I can do better! Just *sob* give me another chance!"  
  
Goku pulled her from his neck gently and set her on her feet. "I'm sorry, ChiChi...but empty promises aren't going to work this time." Goku wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb and gave a sad smile before putting two fingers to his forehead and dissappearing into the night.  
-------  
Nnif: okay, so it wasn't great, but I fell in love with the song after I had heard it and I couldn't help but make a fic with it.  
additional: if anybody read my longer story "Example of Man" and read the end note about the Piccolo/Vegeta love story, it's about half way finished, so just hang on a bit longer. -.- 


End file.
